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Posted December 29, 2011 12:40 am - Updated January 22, 2016 04:29 pm

Congressmen work together on Medicare bill

This editorial appeared in the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday:

Maybe we just want to close 2011 out on an optimistic note. Or maybe it’s because things in Washington have looked nothing short of dismal much of the year. But there’s something to get up and shout about in the Medicare proposal presented this month by GOP Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

Yes, you read that right: Lawmakers from opposing parties have a common solution, a somewhat unexpected development after so many partisan brawls this year. B

ut there they were, offering serious ways to control Medicare costs to keep this program from going belly up like Lehman Brothers and leaving seniors without a safety net.

Ryan previously introduced a Medicare overhaul that would give seniors government vouchers to pay their premiums for a private health care plan. His proposal got shoved aside because it didn’t keep traditional Medicare as an option.

Now he’s back with a different “premium support” model. This one would keep traditional Medicare as a choice for seniors in the future. If seniors like Medicare as they know it, they can keep it. But if they want to choose among plans that offer benefits tailored to their specific needs, they can go that route.

We like the competition-choice strategy because it would force plans to offer better benefits at lower costs. That’s basically what happened with the prescription drug benefit that Medicare has offered over the last decade. Competition among private plans has helped control expenses.

Ryan and Wyden have included additional elements, starting in 2022, that are favorable to seniors. For example, seniors with serious medical needs would receive a greater subsidy to buy a private plan than would healthy seniors. The extra money is aimed at stopping insurers from gearing their plans to only the healthiest retirees.